TOP OF THE SIXTH

ANOTHER ELWAY IN STANFORD'S FUTURE?

Good news for The Farm. Jackie (Son of John) Elway is an outstanding youth-league quarterback who, according to the Denver Post, "could end up at mom and dad's alma mater, Stanford."

And granddad Jack Elway, the former San Jose State and Stanford coach, says Jackie is better than John was at the same age. That age is 9, but it's probably not too early for Cal to start scouting Jackie for tendencies.

ALL JOHN, ALL THE TIME: John Elway says he loved playing in Denver, but he was never thrilled with the nothing's-too-trivial coverage by the city's warring newspapers, the Post and the Rocky Mountain News. Recalls T. J. Simers, now with the Los Angeles Times: "I was there as the initial author of 'The Elway Watch' " (for the Post), noting for posterity that Elway "watched 'The Beverly Hillbillies' before 'Fantasy Island' " and had worn "flowered shorts two straight days.' " -- The night before formally announcing his retirement, Elway went to dinner with his Broncos teammates in downtown Denver. His car was towed from a post office parking lot, so he walked by himself almost three miles through an industrial area at 9 o'clock to retrieve it. According to Broncos owner Pat Bowlen, when Elway got to the towing service, a woman there said: "Can I see some ID, please?" -- Jerome Williams has been tearing it up for the Detroit Pistons, averaging 14.8 points and 11.8 rebounds in his first six starts. But he says: "I told my father that I would get 15 rebounds (in a game). I was one short (against Boston). He said he wouldn't get his hair cut until I got 15. Now he is walking around my house with an Afro." -- "As they sink to oblivion, the Boston Red Sox are a team to be appreciated only by patrons of bad art," said Paul Doyle of the Hartford (Conn.) Courant after Boston squandered leads of 7-0 and 11-6 in losing to the A's 12-11 Monday. "Think of people who listen to recordings of William Shatner singing . . ."

HE'LL HAVE TO CUT OUT THE ROUGH STUFF: Detroit Tigers pitcher Brian Moehler was caught with sandpaper on his thumb during Saturday night's game against Tampa Bay. "The Devil Rays say Moehler was scuffing the baseball," says the Cutler Daily Scoop. "Moehler says he was just smoothing out his delivery." -- When Mark Wohlers returned to the mound for the Cincinnati Reds' Triple-A team, he walked five of the seven batters he faced and threw four wild pitches in one-third of an inning. "In other words," says Michael Ventre of MSNBC, "he's getting better." -- "Jeff Gordon won the California 500 Sunday in Fontana with a speed of 150.3 mph," says Jerry Perisho, "or roughly 12 mph slower than the average race fan drove going home on the San Bernardino Freeway." -- "So the Kentucky Derby is 'the most exciting two minutes in sports'?" says Dean Howard of Oakland. "I thought that phrase referred to a Dennis Rodman marriage."